Unlocking Success: Why Independent Entries Matter

Ten years ago, an anonymous writer from Premier Debate published a blog article titled “Independents– Give Us a Chance.” A lot has changed since then. However, one thing has completely upended the debate space: the emergence of online debate.  

Thanks to COVID, debate was forced to go online for an incredibly strange year and independent entry counts began to skyrocket. It’s no secret that speech and debate is more accessible when held online. This can be seen by the fact that more tournaments offer independent entries when online in the first place. For example, all of the TOC Digital Speech and Debate Series tournaments offer independent entries. Don’t get me wrong, this was an incredible step for independent entries as a whole. Not only are the Digital Speech and Debate Series national circuit tournaments but they’re also bid tournaments to the prestigious Tournament of Champions. That being said, it’s far less common to have an in-person tournament where they allow independent entries. 

The reason for the higher number of tournaments where one can enter independently online versus in-person simply lies in the fact that it’s easier, liability-wise, to enter online. Tournaments don’t know where the people are coming from, even though when they’re entered, independent entries have already filled out all of the required forms for entering a tournament. The same forms schools fill out, independent entries fill out too. The exact same fees the school pays, independent entries pay too. And that's where the problem lies.

Fees add up. Team fees- and judging fees too, are expensive. Judging fees are often the most costly part of registering independently, as most independent entries don't have access to an available debate judge. Most tournaments have the option to hire out judges when you can’t bring them. Great! One problem- that’s expensive. Like, really expensive. For example, the hired judging price at all of the TOC Digital Speech and Debate Series tournaments is $250 for non-speech events. That’s on top of the previous team fee and the price to register ($50), and prices begin to stack up ($400+).  I, as an independent entry, don’t get funding from a school board. I, as an independent entry, don’t have ready access to judges. So, why am I treated like I do? 

The bigger problem comes when I can’t even debate at all because tournaments don’t offer the option to compete independently in the first place. As someone who enters independently for a vast majority of my tournaments, I, like many others within the debate space, rely on entering independently to debate. But when that option doesn’t even exist for me at all, I’m out of luck. Big shock here: I like debate. I wouldn’t be writing this article if I didn’t feel strongly about debate. And so when I can’t do the activity that I've devoted so much of my life to, it doesn’t exactly make me feel overjoyed about staying in it.

But why are independent entries even important? The most obvious reason that independent entries are needed for the speech and debate community: accessibility. Not everyone has a school to sign them up for national circuit tournaments, and some people don’t even have a team in the first place. More people being able to participate in debate means that debate can stay the wonderful activity that we all know and love. But accessibility is so much more than just allowing people who couldn’t debate before to debate. The existence of accessibility in the debate space is key for a few reasons, namely that the very premise of independent entries allows for those who can’t debate under their school to do so. Whether it be for lack of a proper team, or simply because they can only enter in one event with their school and desire to expand their horizons, one thing still shines true. We, as the speech and debate community, need independent entries in order to broaden our horizons and promote diversity.

The Solution

The solution is twofold: stop making independent entries pay the “team” fee, and more importantly, tournaments should open their doors to independent entries in the first place.

First, stop making independents pay the same fees that schools do. Independents have to pay the same overarching “team” fee that teams with 20+ students entering the same tournament have to pay. As a high school student, I just don’t have the same resources a regular team does, and it’s unwise to assume that I do. While I understand that this “team” fee exists in part to keep the tournament running itself, at a certain point it just feels like independent entries are being unfairly penalized.

The second point of my solution is the easier one to achieve. Tournaments, this is an active call for you to level the playing field for debaters, and to let independent entries in. The days of competitors who are forced to quit the activity simply because they cannot compete need to be over. 

Furthermore, liability worries can be washed away simply with an adult who signs a form and agrees to be available during the tournament; think like what the Digital Speech and Debate Series does to allow independent entries to debate. Because of this, everybody involved benefits- more people get to debate and tournaments still turn a profit, as independent entries are still paying the fees to help keep the tournament running. 

Beyond this rampant inequity, one thing is abundantly clear: independent entries aren’t going away any time soon.  We, as the speech and debate community, need to adapt to the changes that the normalization of independent entries brings, but we also need to recognize that often those who are entering a tournament independently are put at a ginormous disadvantage for circumstances that they cannot control.  It’s time for tournament organizers to take concrete steps towards inclusivity by reducing fees and allowing more independent entries. Only then can we foster a debate community that thrives on diversity and talent, and strives to hear the voices of every debater.